Do you want to know an honest, actually scary-but-totally-true fact about the Japanese and games? Okay... here goes. Most western/European developers have to make their games *easier* for Japanese audiences. Yes, really. Why?
Apparently if a game in certain genres is seen as being more than a little difficult in Japan, even among the so called `hardcore`, it is often just dismissed as a bad game simply because it can`t be finished by everyone. The most recent memorable is RE-Code:Veronica, where the Japanese version had several progressively harder skill settings. The UK version (I don`t know about the US) version only came with the hardest setting from the Japanese version. This also happens with UK/US racing games released in Japan for certain, a few of the rare FPS games which make it over there too. Yet the reverse doesn`t happen with their games coming over here. Soul Calibur? Easy. Luigi`s Mansion (and well all Mario games to certain extents)? Also fairly easy. Final Fantasy. Metal Gear Solid. Even the mighty Zelda saga is fairly straightforward with lots of hints given throughout leading you through the game.
So... who`s hardcore really?
